Use Dreamweaver to make websites and web products usable for people with visual, auditory, motor, and other disabilities.

Note:

The user interface has been simplified in Dreamweaver
CC and later. As a result, you may not find some of the options
described in this article in Dreamweaver CC and later. For more
information, see this article.

About accessible content

Accessibility refers to making websites and web products
usable for people with visual, auditory, motor, and other disabilities.
Examples of accessibility features for software products and websites
include screen reader support, text equivalents for graphics, keyboard
shortcuts, change of display colors to high contrast, and so on. Dreamweaver provides tools that make it accessible
to use and tools that help you author accessible content.

For Dreamweaver developers who need to
use accessibility features, the application offers screen reader
support, keyboard navigation, and operating system accessibility
support.

For web designers who need to create accessible content, Dreamweaver assists you in creating accessible
pages that contain useful content for screen readers and comply
with federal government guidelines. For example, dialog boxes prompt
you to enter accessibility attributes—such as text equivalents for an
image—when you insert page elements. Then, when the image appears
on a page for a user with visual disabilities, the screen reader
reads the description.

Note:

For more information about two significant accessibility initiatives,
see the World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative (www.w3.org/wai)
and Section 508 of the U.S. Federal Rehabilitation Act (www.section508.gov).

No authoring tool can automate the development process. Designing
accessible websites requires you to understand accessibility requirements
and make ongoing decisions about how users with disabilities interact
with web pages. The best way to ensure that a website is accessible
is through deliberate planning, development, testing, and evaluation.

Use screen readers with Dreamweaver

A screen reader recites text that appears
on the computer screen. It also reads non-textual information, such
as button labels or image descriptions in the application, provided
in accessibility tags or attributes during authoring.

As a Dreamweaver designer, you can use
a screen reader to assist you in creating your web pages. The screen
reader starts reading from the upper-left corner of the Document
window.

Support for operating system accessibility
features

Dreamweaver supports
accessibility features in both the Windows and Macintosh operating
systems. For example, on the Macintosh you set the visual preferences
in the Universal Access Preferences dialog box (Apple >
System Preferences). Your settings are reflected in the Dreamweaver work space.

The
Windows operating system’s high contrast setting is also supported.
You activate this option through the Windows Control Panel and it
affects Dreamweaver as follows:

Dialog boxes and panels use system color settings. For
example, if you set the color to White on Black, all Dreamweaver dialog boxes and panels appear with
a white foreground color and black background.

Code view uses the system and window text color. For example,
if you set the system color to White on Black, and then change text
colors in Edit > Preferences > Code Coloring, Dreamweaver ignores those color settings and
displays the code text with a white foreground color and black background.

Design view uses the background and text colors you set in
Modify > Page Properties so that pages you design render
colors as a browser will.

Optimize the work space for accessible
page design

When
you create accessible pages, you need to associate information,
such as labels and descriptions, with your page objects to make
your content accessible to all users.

To do this, activate
the Accessibility dialog box for each object, so that Dreamweaver prompts you for accessibility
information when you insert objects. You can activate a dialog box
for any of the objects in the Accessibility category in Preferences.

Select Accessibility from the Category list on the left,
select an object, set any of the following options, and click OK.

Show Attributes When
Inserting

Select the objects for which you want to activate accessibility
dialog boxes. For example, form objects, frames, media, and images.

Keep Focus In The Panel

Maintains focus on the panel, which makes it accessible
to the screen reader. (If you don’t select this option, the focus
remains in Design or Code view when a user opens a panel.)

Offscreen Rendering

Select this option when using a screen reader.

Note:

Accessibility attributes appear in the Insert Table dialog box when you insert a new table.

Navigate Dreamweaver using the
keyboard

You can use the keyboard to navigate
panels, inspectors, dialog boxes, frames, and tables without a mouse.

Note:

Tabbing
and the use of arrow keys are supported for Windows only.

Navigate panels

In the Document window, press Control+F6
to shift focus to a panel.

A dotted line around the panel title indicates that focus
is on that panel. The screen reader reads the panel title bar that
has focus.

Press Control+F6 again to shift focus until you have
focus on the panel you want to work in. (Press Control+Shift+F6
to shift focus to the previous panel.)

If the panel you want to work in is not open, use the
keyboard shortcuts in the Windows menu to display the appropriate
panel; then press Control+F6.

If the panel you want to work in is open, but not expanded,
place focus on the panel title bar, and then press the Spacebar.
Press the Spacebar again to collapse the panel.

Press the Tab key to move through the options in the
panel.

Use the arrow keys as appropriate:

If an option has choices, use the arrow
keys to scroll through the choices, and then press the Spacebar
to make a selection.

If there are tabs in the panel group to open other
panels, place focus on the open tab, and then use the left or right
arrow key to open another tabs. Once you open a new tab, press the
Tab key to move through the options in that panel.

Navigate the Property inspector

Press Control+F3 to display the Property
inspector, if it is not visible.

Press Control+F6 (Windows only) until you shift focus
to the Property inspector.

Press the Tab key to move through the Property inspector
options.

Use the arrow keys as appropriate to move through option
choices.

Press Control+Down arrow/Up arrow (Windows) or Command
Down arrow/Up arrow (Macintosh) to open and close the expanded section
of the Property inspector, as necessary, or, with focus on the expander
arrow in the lower-right corner, press the Spacebar.

Note:

Keyboard focus must be inside the Property inspector
(and not on the panel title) for expanding and collapsing to work.

Navigate a dialog box

Press the Tab key to move through the
options in a dialog box.

Use the arrow keys to move through choices for an option.

If the dialog box has a Category list, press Control+Tab
(Windows) to shift focus to the category list, and then use the
arrow keys to move up or down the list.

Press Control+Tab again to shift to the options for a
category.

Press Enter to exit the dialog box.

Navigate frames

If your document contains frames, you
can use the arrow keys to shift focus to a frame.

Select a frame

Press Alt+Down Arrow to place the insertion
point in the Document window.

Press Alt+Up Arrow to select the frame that currently
has focus.

Continue pressing Alt+Up Arrow to shift focus to the
frameset, and then to the parent framesets, if there are nested
framesets.

Press Alt+Down Arrow to shift focus to a child frameset
or a single frame within the frameset.

With focus on a single frame, press Alt+Left or Right
Arrow to move between frames.

Navigate a table

Use the arrow keys or press Tab to move
to other cells in a table as necessary.

Note:

Pressing Tab in a right-most cell adds
another row to the table.

To select a cell, press Control+A (Windows only) while
the insertion point is in the cell.

To select the entire table, press Control+A twice if
the insertion point is in a cell, or once if a cell is selected.

To exit the table, press Control+A three times if the
insertion point is in a cell, twice if the cell is selected, or
once if the table is selected, and then press the Up, Left, or Right
Arrow key.

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